fread() reads up to
length bytes from the file pointer
referenced by fp. Reading stops when
length bytes have been read or EOF is
reached, whichever comes first.
// get contents of a file into a string
$filename = "/usr/local/something.txt";
$fd = fopen ($filename, "r");
$contents = fread ($fd, filesize ($filename));
fclose ($fd);
Note:
On systems which differentiate between binary and text files
(i.e. Windows) the file must be opened with 'b' included in
fopen() mode parameter.